Mastercard Inc (NYSE:MA) announced the appointment of Craig Vosburg to president, North America Markets, effective January 1, 2016. This appointment comes as Chris McWilton announced he will leave MasterCard on December 31.

McWilton joined MasterCard in 2003 as corporate controller and was appointed chief financial officer in October of the same year. As CFO, McWilton played a critical role in the company’s successful initial public offering (IPO) in May 2006. The MasterCard IPO was the largest domestic IPO of 2006 and the 12th largest domestic IPO in U.S. history at the time.

He was named president of MasterCard Global Accounts in 2007, managing relationships for the company’s largest customers. He was then appointed president of U.S. Markets in 2009, before assuming North American responsibilities in 2013.

Prior to joining MasterCard, McWilton had a 22-year career with KPMG, where he specialized in financial and SEC reporting and was an SEC reviewing partner.

“I want to acknowledge Chris’s contributions to the growth and evolution of MasterCard,” said Ajay Banga, president and chief executive officer, MasterCard. “I’d also like to personally thank him for his commitment over the years in helping to make our company what it is today. The entire company joins me in wishing Chris and his family all the best going forward.”

As president, North America Markets, Vosburg will oversee the company’s customer-facing activities in the United
States and Canada, including sales, business development, strategy and relationship management with issuers, merchants, governments and acquirers. He will join the company’s Executive Committee.

Vosburg, 48, was most recently the company’s chief product officer, a role he held since April 1, 2014. In this role, he led the development, commercialization and management of the company’s global Core Products offerings which include consumer credit and debit, commercial, prepaid and loyalty solutions.

“I’m pleased to announce Craig’s appointment. His experience, both global and domestic, make him the ideal person to drive our business forward,” said Banga. “I’m confident Craig will have great success in his new role.”

Vosburg brings global experience to the role gained through a decade of working in the Asia Pacific region with MasterCard and earlier in his career with Bain & Company and A.T. Kearney.

Vosburg joined MasterCard in 2006 as head of MasterCard Advisors in Southeast Asia, Greater China, and South Asia/Middle East/Africa. In 2008, he was named managing director of the MasterCard Advisors business in the U.S. and Canada. In 2010, Vosburg was named group executive, U.S. Market Development, responsible for managing and building relationships within the merchant and acquiring community.

He began his career working in commercial banking at CoreStates Financial Corporation.

Vosburg is a past David Rockefeller Fellow at the Partnership for New York City and currently sits on the Board of Directors of the New York Botanical Garden. He holds a Master of Business Administration from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Bucknell University.

Changes to Global Product and Middle East and Africa Leadership

Effective January 1, Michael Miebach will assume the role of chief product officer for the company, replacing Vosburg, and will be based in New York. He currently serves as president, Middle East and Africa, responsible for driving the evolution of payments and delivering increased value to MasterCard stakeholders in markets across the region.

Before joining MasterCard in 2010, Miebach held several global positions including with Barclays, where he was the managing director for Middle East and North Africa and managing director for Barclays Africa. He also held senior-level positions at Citibank, responsible for Germany, Austria, UK and Turkey.

Raghu Malhotra will become president, Middle East and Africa as of January 1. Previously overseeing Middle East and North Africa, Malhotra will now add supervision of sub-Saharan Africa and South Africa markets to his responsibilities.

Since 2000, he has led several teams across South Asia, India and the Middle East and Africa. Prior to joining
MasterCard, Malhotra served in a variety of leadership roles across the consumer franchise and financial services businesses for Citigroup, American Express and ANZ Grindlays Bank.(Original Source)

Shares of Mastercard closed yesterday at $99.38. MA has a 1-year high of $101.65 and a 1-year low of $74.61. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $94.80 and its 200-day moving average is $93.68.

On the ratings front, Mastercard has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. In a report issued on October 30, RBC analyst Daniel Perlin reiterated a Buy rating on MA, with a price target of $114, which represents a potential upside of 14.7% from where the stock is currently trading. Separately, on the same day, Deutsche Bank’s Bryan Keane reiterated a Buy rating on the stock and has a price target of $114.

According to TipRanks.com, which ranks over 7,500 financial analysts and bloggers to gauge the performance of their past recommendations, Daniel Perlin and Bryan Keane have a total average return of 19.0% and 15.9% respectively. Perlin has a success rate of 84.6% and is ranked #365 out of 3816 analysts, while Keane has a success rate of 83.1% and is ranked #93.

Overall, one research analyst has assigned a Hold rating and 8 research analysts have given a Buy rating to the stock. When considering if perhaps the stock is under or overvalued, the average price target is $108.25 which is 8.9% above where the stock closed yesterday.